White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has officially headed off on maternity leave ahead of the arrival of her second child with husband Nicholas Riccio—and she’s wasted no time in settling into life at home with her family as she prepares to expand her brood.
Leavitt, 28, who tied the knot with Riccio, 61, in January 2025, days before President Donald Trump‘s inauguration, took to Instagram to share several professional photos her family, while opening up about her excitement at welcoming a second child.
“There is no greater blessing than motherhood. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise,” she wrote alongside two photos in which she could be seen posing with a hand on her bump and then placing a hand on son Niko‘s head.
In a separate post, which features a photo of herself, Riccio, and Nico, Leavitt wrote: “Family of four incoming…”
While Leavitt has not yet revealed her exact due date, a White House spokesperson told The Hill that she is “expected to give birth” any day now.
The photos were shared just under a week after Leavitt officially signed off from her role as press secretary on April 24—although she ended up returning to the White House to host one final press conference on April 27, after a shooter launched an attack on the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, DC, over the weekend.
“As I told many of you on Friday afternoon, I thought that would be my last time taking your questions until after my maternity leave,” she explained at the start of the media briefing.
“But given the attempted assassination of the President and ‘top Trump administration officials,’ as the shooter noted in his manifesto, at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on Saturday evening, I felt it was prudent to be here today to answer your questions—and inform the American people about how the administration is responding to yet another attempt on President Trump’s life.”
Leavitt and her husband, who welcomed their first son in 2024, were both present at the event and the press secretary later shared images from their red carpet appearance—while hitting out at the “depraved anti-Trump lunatic” who “hijacked” the annual gala.
“What was supposed to be a fun night with President Trump delivering jokes and celebrating free speech was hijacked by a depraved anti-Trump lunatic who sought to assassinate the President and kill as many top Trump administration officials as possible,” she wrote.
“I was with President Trump and the First Lady back stage after we were quickly ushered to safety by Secret Service. President Trump was truly fearless, but as he said last night, this political violence needs to end.
“Thank you to law enforcement for keeping all of us safe, including the brave agent who took a bullet to the chest and immediately moved to neutralize the shooter. Pray for our country.”
Her appearance in the White House briefing room came several days after she opened up about her fears about balancing her job with her second pregnancy—while celebrating the fact that she made it through to the 39-week mark.
“When my husband and I found out we are expecting another child, my first thought was overwhelming gratitude and joy,” she revealed. “My second thought was ‘how the heck am I going to do this job, with a toddler, and while pregnant?’ Well, 39 weeks later and we did it.”
She then signed off her social media post, writing: “Be back soon!”
According to The Hill, the White House will not replace Leavitt with an interim press secretary, but will instead rely on a “rotating cast of administration officials,” which NewsNation reports could include the president, as well as Vice President JD Vance.
Leavitt has not revealed how long she plans to be away from her job—however, she returned to her role as a spokesperson for Trump’s presidential campaign just four days after welcoming her Niko in July 2024.
It is also unclear where the expectant mother plans to welcome her second child. When Leavitt and her husband met, they were both residing in their home state of New Hampshire, where Riccio owns a successful real estate investment business. They have since relocated to DC so that she can be closer to the White House.
She has not revealed whether she plans to remain in the nation’s capital for her maternity leave.
Just five months before taking a temporary break from her job, Leavitt candidly opened up about the toll that her role had taken on her home life, joking that she had “PTSD about making plans” because she had been forced to cancel so many date nights.
“Honestly, I have PTSD about making plans, so I just don’t,” she told the Daily Mail in November. “We just roll with it. If there’s a night where I happen to become free, then we take full advantage of that as a family.”
The mother of one admitted that she and Riccio had been forced to cancel three “mini weekend getaway vacations” over the summer because of “foreign policy events.” She did not specify which events those were.
“But that’s part of the job, and it’s what makes it fun and challenging and keeps every day new,” she added. “And it’s, you know, it’s temporary. We’re one year down. We got three to go.”
Should Leavitt remain part of Trump’s administration for his full four-year term, she will make history as the first and only of his press secretaries to do so.
During his first four years in office, the president had four press secretaries—Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Stephanie Grisham, and Kayleigh McEnany—three of whom lasted less than a year in the job, with Huckabee Sanders serving for close to two years.
And while her dating life with her husband may have suffered as a result, she said that Trump and her other bosses at the White House have made sure that she is able to prioritize her role as a mother, no matter what else is going on at work.
“My priority is to always make it home for my kid’s bedtime,” she said. “I leave at a more reasonable hour than people may think, because that’s sort of the line I’ve drawn to get home and cook dinner and go through the bedtime routine and be a mom.”
Leavitt also lifted the lid on the other aspects of her daily routine, telling the publication that she usually began her press briefings at 5 a.m., although she was finding time thrice weekly for a 5:30 a.m. workout, which usually involved a weight-lifting session in the White House gym.
From there, she would move to her office, where she’d comb through the morning’s newspapers, while watching ongoing coverage on all the major news networks, noting that she focused her efforts largely on Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN.
Daily check-ins with the president are also an essential part of her day, helping to shape the narrative that she then shares with the world’s media from the White House briefing room.
On her rare days off, Leavitt said she focused on spending time with her husband and son at their home in Northern Virginia, and also attending church, noting that “faith is at the center of our home and our marriage and raising a child.”
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